There’s no shortage of rumors swirling about the iPhone 5 right now, but we’ve got some enlightening information (and an image) that might help paint a better picture of what Apple’s next play in the mobile market could be. While the current crop of chatter on the internet suggests the iPhone 5 will be little more than a spec bump to the iPhone 4, that’s not the story we’ve been hearing at all. In fact, the device could look something a little more like the image above — an image which is our rendering based on information from a variety of sources...

Last month, we saw aleakof the design specification which claimed to be for the iPhone 5. Chinese case manufacturers seem to be betting on that design as they've alreadystarted producing casesbased on that design document. We'd even requested and received someearly rendersbased on the case designs.

Given how predictive the case designs have been in the past, we commissionedCiccareseDesignto create high quality renderings made as closely as possible to the original leaked case designs. Measurements were taken against the original case design leaks, and then imported into 3D modeling software.

For starters — as I reportedback in JanuaryonEngadget— the design of the phone is set to radically change (“a completely redesigned handset”). Our sources say the new model (or at least one of the new designs in testing) looks “more like the iPod touch than the iPhone 4.” The phone will be thinner than the iPhone 4, and may have a “teardrop” shape which goes from thick to thin (something along the lines of the MacBook Air profile).

The designs show manufacturers what areas need to be open or exposed for cases, but reveal little else. In the past, this has caused some misunderstandings about future features.iPad 2 casesseemed to suggest an extra port at the top of the device, but that turned out to be a space for a microphone hole. Similarly, there are a few areas on the iPhone 5 case designs that are open to interpretation. Click on the images for a larger view.

The elongated hole for the home button has suggested that the home button may itself also become more oval in shape. That is the direction our designer took as well. It's also possible, however, that the home button will retain its round shape and Apple has simply allowed extra space for swiping across the home button in a left to right or right to left manner. These's been some speculation that Apple could allow such a gesture for users to quickly switch between multitasking apps.

The exact screen size is another aspect that was hard to determine on the design drawings alone. Our renderings have enlarged the screen size to the space shown on the case designs. But, Apple has introduced a "swipe down" from the top of the screen notification system in iOS 5 that could benefit from some extra finger-space near the top of the screen in order to properly register. So, it may be that the screen isn't quite as large as depicted by the cases, and simply Apple allowing for extra space for these swipes. The representation here, however, does show a 4 inch screen which preserves Apple's current screen ratio. Rumors have suggested that Apple may be enlarging the screen size in the upcoming iPhone models.

“The fluctuation, I believe, will come when a new device from Apple is launched, whenever that may be, and that we will be, on the first time, on equal footing with our competitors on a new phone hitting the market, which will also be a global device.”

I think that apples devices will soon reach a point where they are TOO thin. The new ipod touch feels pretty insubstantial to me now, like it can slide from my hand at any moment because the sides don't offer alot of surface area to grasp.

Samsung will sue Apple over the look and feel of that device.That's what everyone said about iPhone 4 before it came out though, plus this is a render, I'd think some of the rendering here is probably exaggerated to say the least but I prefer this general idea better to the ibrick

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